1. US20090015912 - Total Internal Reflectance Fluorescence (TIRF) Microscope

A total internal reflection fluorescent (TIRF) microscope has a conjugate lens (30) which is positioned off of the primary microscope axis (AA). The lens (30) is held by a mount (60) allowing the radial spacing between the microscope axis (AA) and the conjugate lens axis (BB) to be varied. The mount (60) also allows the lens to be rotated around the microscope axis. As the lens (30) rotates, the spot of light (64) created by the incident laser beam moves around the periphery of the objective lens (34). This changes the direction of polarisation of the evanescent wave within which the sample (44) sits. By studying the emitted fluorescence as a function of lens angle, information is provided about the spatial attitude of a molecule under study.